Dr. Katy Lichon

Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame

Dr. Katy Lichon serves as the Director for the English as a New Language (ENL) Program, the Director of the Catholic School Advantage (CSA), and is an  Associate Teaching Professor with ACE Teaching Fellows. In addition, she serves as faculty fellow for five Notre Dame institutions: Institute for Latino Studies, Institute for Educational Initiatives, Global Center for the Development of the Whole Child, Center for Literacy Education, and Center for the Study of Languages and Culture.

Lichon is an educational linguist who focuses on the education of K-12 multilingual learners in Catholic schools and teacher education. This work has led to the publication of four books: English Oral Language Assessment (ACE Press, 2013), Our Legacy and Our Future: A Framework for Serving English Learners in Catholic Schools (NCEA Press, 2017), Supporting English Learners: A Diocesan Handbook for K-12 (NCEA Press, 2018), and Ten Days to Becoming a Better Educator of English Learners (NCEA Press, 2018), as well as numerous articles in diverse publications. She was honored with the Christ the Teacher award in 2020 by the University. She is passionate about linguistics, language acquisition, the role of maternal speech, Latino enrollment, and ensuring that culturally and linguistically diverse students thrive in our Catholic schools. Lichon has also helped to begin the two-way immersion program at Holy Cross School in South Bend, IN, which is now in its fifth year. At Holy Cross School, enrollment has grown from 190 students to 350 in 5 years! She resides in South Bend, Indiana with her husband and three children.

Jeannie Courchene

Retired Principal, Archdiocese of Denver

Jeannie Courchene has worked in education for over 40 years. She has a BA in Mathematics and an MA in Curriculum & Administration. She taught high school mathematics for 25 years in Missouri, followed by 5 years in curriculum development.

After retiring to Colorado, Jeannie spent 10 years as principal of St. Rose of Lima School (1999-2009). Under her leadership, she and her Development Board turned a failing inner-city Denver Catholic school with declining enrollment into a success story. St. Rose built a gymnasium, library, and preschool under her leadership and now boasts a waiting list and four major scholarship donors. St. Rose has been an ACE school since the program expanded to Colorado. One of St. Rose of Lima’s proudest moments was being chosen as the lead story in the Notre Dame Task Force Report, To Nurture the Soul of a Nation.

Jeannie continues to serve on the Advancement Board of St. Rose of Lima Academy. Jeannie has served as an LEI mentor and presenter since the inception of the LEI.

Kristin Moore

Director of Marketing and Enrollment, Archdiocese of Seattle

Kristin Moore is a Catholic school marketing expert whose creative and daring approach challenges audiences to think WAY out of the box. Her dynamic strategy and practical resources have been shared with schools across the country and inspire a more contemporary approach to expanding the mission of our schools.

After her graduate work at the University of San Francisco, Kristin launched her career as a classroom teacher in the Bay Area. Witnessing first hand the transformational effect of Catholic education on the entire family, she couldn’t help but wonder who was not in her classroom and why.  Her passion for educational access deepened and her trajectory shifted. Kristin stepped away from her first love, teaching, to pursue leadership roles in admissions, marketing, and advancement in order to provide access to a larger number of students…and she did.

Now, as Director of Marketing & Enrollment for the 72 schools in the Archdiocese of Seattle, it is not business as usual. Kristin continues to develop innovative support initiatives to enrich, challenge, and expand the schools in Western Washington. She has become a true leader and advocate for Latino outreach and is relentless in her efforts to grow schools into the future. 

Kristin is a national speaker on marketing and enrollment topics in addition to being a member of two national marketing groups where there is a generous exchange of ideas and a desire to develop compelling, effective, and unified messaging for Catholic schools. 

Manuel Fernandez

Program Director, Latino Enrollment Institute, University of Notre Dame

Manny Fernandez is the Program Director of the Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI). Following a long career as an elementary and middle school teacher in Los Angeles, CA, and Goshen, IN, Fernandez joined the ACE team to help facilitate the improvement and expansion of Catholic education within the Latino population. Each year that Fernandez taught in Indiana, he was recognized by the state department of education for facilitating the highest growth in test scores among his students. Fernandez graduated from California State University at Los Angeles with a degree in Urban Learning, a teaching program designed specifically for working with at-risk children from poverty-stricken neighborhoods. He resides in South Bend with his wife and three children ages 10, 7, and 2.